La fuga degli angeli - Storie del Kindertransport

This film continues to haunt me. With such delicacy, honesty, and poignancy, the great tragic horror of the holocaust is brought home to us on a human scale from a child's vantage point. Each unique story is told with such quiet strength and dignity. It is not only what is said, but what is not said, that is so moving. It would have been so easy to over-sentimentalize or shock, yet this film navigates through the emotional landscape with compassion and sensitivity. The voices are wise, direct and articulate on the surface, but just below, there are complex layers of remembrance, guilt, shame, grief, rage, fear, loss, despair, sadness, faith, relief and hope.

The interweaving of the past and present, black and white and colour, child and adult, is crafted with great skill. The musical score is a perfect counterpoint to the unfolding drama. There is not one false note, not one. Everything is presented with a remarkable aesthetic and thoughtfulness.

No other holocaust documentary has had a greater impact on me. As a grownup 'child' and now as a mother, I will think about this film for a very long time to come.

After coming home from a day "out on the town" and then sitting down to watch this program on PBS by accident while channel-surfing was an interesting experience. The documentary so vividly told the stories of the experience of the children who where part of the the Kindertransport. What did it mean for them to be separated from their parents? What was it like for the parents who sent them away? How did the children cope with being in a strange land with strangers? How did some children deal with their parents' demise? How did some children deal with being reunited with their parents after the war? The movie was very well-done and very moving. I would definitely recommend owning this movie. Well-deserved Oscar win.

A documentary about the Kindertransport, which sent many Jewish children in Central Europe to safety in Britain. The film is constructed from interesting and rare film footage and newsreels, German lullabies and folk songs, still photos,letters and drawings, representative objects, but, most importantly the recollections of many Kindertransport children, full of detail and emotion. In a certain part of the film ,lines from letters from the children to their parents are read and one of the letters which is read is that of my grandmother, a child on the Kindertransport herself. To me this film was a personally invigorating, touching, informative and sad experience . Recommended when it opens ( I saw it at the Warners screening room in N.Y before it opened because of my connection).

This is a film that must be seen by your entire family. True, it's very disturbing, but it's one of the best films ever made about the horrors of war. Beautifully made, touching and moving, this is just a marvel. It should be shown every year on national television, to make sure that people never forget. Technically a marvel, there is not one thing wrong with this film, other than the fact that people haven't seen it.

The Testament of holocaust survivors is always worth hearing, lest we forget the depths to which humanity proved it was capable of sinking. In fact, the scale of the tragedy is almost incomprehensible to a privileged modern mind, hence the appeal of stories like 'Schindler's List', which focus on a few who were luckier than most: they give us an insight into the horror, without totally disconnecting from our own, more fortunate, experience. 'Into the Arms of Strangers' likewise tells a more human story than the bleakest truths, namely that of Jewish children taken in by Britain before the war. It's not a bad film, and yet to me it was not the most powerful account of the holocaust I've seen in spite of its human scale. Perhaps this is because the worst fate suffered by the rescued - the death of the families they left behind - was a burden gradually assumed, not directly witnessed, and the survivor's stories are thus that little bit more polished and analytical than in the most compelling documentary - whereas perceptions of events are static (and thus retain their quality of immediacy), our interpretations of our feelings are influenced by what happens afterwards, and even our own stories become slightly second-hand over time. Or perhaps this impression is merely created by the film-makers' slightly heavy-handed use of background music and images. In spite of the above, this is still a highly poignant and important film. We who live today should count, and guard, our blessings.